


Born to Be

by heartbeatslows



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I might make this two parts! wait and see…, M/M, gift exchange!, hehehehe, there's a surprise at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbeatslows/pseuds/heartbeatslows
Summary: The Blade of Marmora is impressed with Keith's prowess, but he's afraid of promotion.  Lance must convince Keith to do what he knows he's capable of.





	1. Base

**Author's Note:**

> Gift for Tumblr user @iamtheswangod, for the Voltron Gift Exchange! Sorry that this is a bit late; I hope you enjoy it anyway! Have a great year :)

"I can’t believe that just happened," Lance was saying.  "You were just there like, ‘bam, bam, bam!’  And I was in the wings behind you, queuing up a shot – wait, let me give you the play-by-play – "

Keith folded his arms and chuckled.  Like Lance, he was still wearing the Blade’s signature uniform, their helmets removed.  Fabric from Keith’s suit was open and flapped in the light breeze, a larger tear in the flexible outer layer revealing where the knife had only just pierced through the second, tougher layer of fabric.  A sliver of tanned skin was visible, barely scratched.  "I was there, Lance.  Saw the whole thing.  Felt it, even."

"Yeah, but it’s so much more fun if I describe it," Lance pouted.  The adrenaline rush from the mission was still flowing through him.  In his mind’s eye, he saw the inside of a Galra base, the arced walls darkly colored and lined with purple lights.  The Blade team had dispatched two members to take out the sentinels, while Keith and Lance had followed behind to secure the prize.  He remembered Keith’s pain and shock when he’d realized that the building was manned by a living guard, not a robot.  Fists and blades connected, a body would drop to the floor only to whir into motion again moments later.  Keith fought him one-on-one, distracting him while Lance went for the mission objective.

"I still can’t believe you managed to make that shot," Keith commended him.  "Especially not while we were still moving.  _And_ only seconds after hitting the defense mechanism."

"Yeah, well, that’s what you can expect from Lance, Master Sharpshooter.  Saving the day’s kind of just my thing."  Lance struck a pose, flexing what biceps he had.

Keith laughed.  "I knew it was a good idea to bring you on.  As soon as the Blade told me they needed a sharpshooter, I knew exactly who to call."

Lance grinned and lowered his eyes to the ground, suddenly bashful.  Keith had never failed to make him feel appreciated after a mission, whether it was a one-off for the Blades of Marmora or a routine check as Voltron paladins.  He basked in those moments of recognition, wishing they could be more, yet somehow they were the only times when Lance was rendered speechless.

The two of them strolled through the Blade headquarters.  Beyond the foreboding entrance, where the initiation ritual occurred for full Blade members, the inside of the building was much more relaxed.  The walls still had that purplish look Galra seemed to prefer, but since this was a permanent location, it could afford to be more spacious and aerated than a ship or cruiser.

On every side were rebels dressed just like the two of them, eating, typing away at alien computers, sometimes sprawled out to catch a quick nap wherever they could.  Lance couldn’t help but marvel at the sight of so many Galra.  Excluding Keith, he couldn’t remember a time he’d been in a conversation with _one_ Galra.  Now, he’d been working alongside them.

Footsteps clipped down the hall at an even pace, announcing Kolivan’s presence before he appeared.  The general was imposing as always, still wearing his mask, but what Lance paid attention to was that he’d probably just come from the kitchen because he was holding a plate full of space beef that made Lance cringe.  The slabs were covered in some sort of slime, but the really weird thing was that even though the slime was so runny it pooled at the bottom of the stack, each piece of meat was still centered in its own slime packet.  Briefly, he imagined Hunk inspecting every item on the plate, sniffing them, holding them up to the light.  The image was still in his head when he realized Kolivan was staring at him, waiting for a response.

Keith elbowed him in the side.  Lance straightened to an overly rigid soldier’s posture.  His brain felt like a malfunctioning ice cream machine, with pieces smashing against each other instead of stirring up yummy frozen treats.

"Uh, Lance here, at your service.  Blade on, am I right?"

Kolivan stared.

"He said congratulations on the mission," Keith hissed in Lance’s ear.

"Oh, yeah.  Uh, it was nothing.  As a paladin of Voltron, heroism comes naturally to me.  It’s a tough job, not everyone can handle it, but I do what I can, and I can what I do."  He flashed a smile that’d always been a winner back on earth.

Kolivan didn’t move.  Lance kind of wished he’d take his mask off, so at least he could judge what kind of reaction he was getting.

Keith put his head in his hands.

Hesitant, the general nodded once.  Lance sighed.  He’d take it.  Kolivan passed them without another word and turned the corner.  Lance heard a door slide open, an exchange of greetings, and the door sliding shut.

"Hey, Keith, this place is wild," Lance began.  "You know I heard they have a disco room?  We should totally – "

"That sounds great," Keith said automatically.  "Hey, I’ve got to go check on something, so I’ll be back soon."

"Oh.  Okay," Lance said, watching Keith disappear the way they’d came.  A curious urge bubbled up in him, and he toyed with the idea for a moment, rolling in over in his mind.

He ducked around the corner, pressing his back the wall.  Keith was still there, squatted beside the door with his ear pressed to it.  He was facing away from Lance, but that was the unmistakable posture of a snoop.  Lance had already given in to his curiosity thus far, and there was really no debate with this one.  He ran away from Keith, to the opposite room, and listened through the vent to the conversation going on inside.

_"…on your latest success,"_ someone, not Kolivan, was saying.  _"Has this brought you any clarity regarding your selection for leadership?"_

_"Indeed,"_ Kolivan answered.  _"It has confirmed it."_

_"So you would move to promote the boy,"_ said a third voice.

_"Yes.  Despite his youth, he has proven a reliable asset to each of my teams.  In every mission, he demonstrates quick thinking and perception.  I have no doubt that Keith would make an excellent team leader."_

"Team leader?" Lance whispered.  That’s what Keith wanted to spy on?  A conference about promoting him?  He leaned forward, even though his head was now practically in the vent.

There was a pause, before the first voice spoke up, seeming to choose her words carefully.  _"I would warn against being…overhasty.  I, too, have noticed the boy’s intuition, yet I fear he lacks the maturity required to lead a team."_

_"Remember how we struggled to manage even a commitment from the child,"_ the other voice added.  _"He would appear and disappear almost at random.  It was impossible to build a schedule around his supposed availability."_

_"Keith is bordering on adulthood,"_ Kolivan said mildly.  _"As I have expressed to you – "_

"Lance?  What are you doing?"

Lance’s head snapped up, and smacked right into the top of the vent.  "Ouch!"

_"Ouch!  Ouch!  Ouch, ouch, ouch…"_   His exclamation echoed through the vent, amplifying each time the sound bounced.  The voices in the other room stopped.

Lance pulled his head through the vent, rubbing his forehead the whole time.  "Oops…" he muttered.

Keith was standing in the doorway behind him, with that blank, confused expression he often seemed to have.  "Were you…spying on them?"

"No worse than you," Lance said.  "Why did you want to listen, any – huh?"

He could hear the arrival of three pairs of feet, and from the sound of it, they were getting close.  Keith looked horrified, and Lance was feeling about the same.  Lance tried to scramble up, but on the way up he tripped over a chair and landed on his rear.

"Okay, apparently I can’t stand _or_ walk," he muttered.

"Lance…" Keith whispered, still looking fearful.  He reached forward to help his friend up, but the footsteps were drawing nearer…in a panic, he turned on his heel and disappeared down the corridor.

"Oh, great," Lance groaned under his breath.

Inevitably, the three leaders came into the room and stared at him.  Like Kolivan, they all had their masks on, but Lance was more than familiar with these awkward, expressionless conversations.  It was like wearing sunglasses indoors, but more annoying.

Lance waved a hand, still lying sideways on the chair.  "Sup, guys."

The three Blade heads looked at one another.  "Hello," the woman hazarded.  "Are you…in need of assistance?"

"Nope," Lance said.  "Fell on to the floor a while ago, and now I’m just chilling.  You know, lying on your back with your feet up every once in a while is good for you.  Get some blood to the head, see from a new perspective.  Wanna try it?"

Kolivan was the one who hesitantly responded this time.  "We do not…want to try it," he said.  "We are looking for your companion, Keith."

"Haven’t seen him," Lance said.  "Don’t you guys have a PA system in here or something?"

They stared at him blankly, and Lance realized he had no idea what PA stood for.  "You know…’Keith Kogane to the front desk, please, Keith Kogane to the front desk.’"

"Of course.  We will send him a summons," the male lead who wasn’t Kolivan said.  He lifted his arm so that a screen emerged and typed into it, prompting a light dinging sound when the summons was sent.  Then, with a sideways look to Kolivan that no one could read, he continued, "And we will see whether he deigns to arrive."

The four of them waited.

Lance hadn’t been kidding about getting blood to the head.  He was starting to feel woozy when the male Galra spoke, minutes later.

"He seems to have left the compound, Kolivan."

"I assure you – "

"Left?" Lance looked up.  The Blade leaders seemed to have almost forgotten he was there, but he didn’t care about them right now.  Why would Keith leave?

"This is most unfortunate."  Kolivan’s voice was even, but dark, the disappointment threatening to become anger.

"That is an understatement," the female leader drawled.  "Kolivan, if your dear protégé does not respond to his summons, I hardly see how we can consider him for leadership."

Lance’s heart sank.

"More than that, Evira," the male Galra said.  "The Blade of Marmora is a tightly run operation.  It is no place for loose cannons.  If Keith does not reappear by nightfall tomorrow, he will be dismissed from service."

The man’s head turned, and though Lance couldn’t see him, he could imagine the bitter look on the face behind the mask.

"You may wish to advise him of this, before it is too late."

Lance was out of the room in an instant, shoulder-checking the male leader in his hurry.  Keith, expelled from the Blade?  They couldn’t do that to him.  He’d been so excited to find out about his history, his heritage.  He’d given up Voltron for this.  They couldn’t kick him out.

He’d given up Voltron for this…

Lance’s pace slowed.  He allowed himself to imagine if Keith returned, even if he’d been discharged.  One of them might end up without a lion, but Lance wasn’t thinking about that.  He was thinking about teasing Keith about his haircut; rolling their eyes together whenever Coran started talking about the good old days; sharing confusion when Pidge and Hunk nerded out on them.  He was remembering Keith’s encouragement, his passion, the sheer strength of his willpower.  The Blade of Marmora would be lucky to have him.

Lance bit his lip.  So would he.

He felt like his soul was wrestling with itself.  When Keith was happy, Lance couldn’t help but be happy.  But he hated having him so far away.


	2. Search

The Blade soldier guarding the hull was tall, with lilac skin and serpentine eyes.  He looked like he might be friendly, but as Lance marched up to him, his eyes turned to slits and he frowned.

"Open the hull."  For the first time in a long time, Lance was completely serious.  He moved with singular focus, not noticing how people moved out of the way when he walked down the center of the hall.  Whether Keith decided to stay or go, nothing could be done until Lance found him.  He needed his lion.

The guard’s fingers twitched, hovering over the keypad that would open the door.  "This isn’t normal," he accused.  "Not two minutes ago the other human asks for a ship, says something about a delivery, and now you’re on your way out too?  Sounds suspicious to me.  And I _don’t_ like for things to sound suspicious."

"A delivery?"  It sounded fake, but… "Did he say where he was headed?"

"He definitely did not," the guard said.  "Sounded like a coverup to me.  If it turns out he’s some sort of spy…"

"He’s not a spy.  I can vouch for that.  But I need my lion.  He and I need to talk."

The guard observed the surety in Lance’s speech, the resolution in the way he held his spine, and the door opened.

For a moment, as he stepped through to the vehicle hold, Lance was afraid Keith had left in Red.  He never worried about losing him when they were flying; then, there was never a doubt in his mind then.  But on the ground, looking up at the lion that hadn’t chosen him first, but had taken him on after he was rejected by Blue and Black, he wondered whether he was worthy.  It was part of why he’d offered to step down in the first place.  Keith had flown Red like a natural from the beginning; Lance had had to struggle to even understand him.

The lion’s eyes glowed as Lance came near.  He bowed his head so Lance could rub his jaw.  Lance didn’t quite hear the lion, but in his mind, he could sense him purring.

"Hey, buddy," Lance whispered.  "Saddle up.  We’ve got a boy to find."

Red opened his mouth and Lance stepped inside, his fears quieted, at least for a moment.

 

The planet they were on was reminded him of Earth.  The climates varied, not from north to south, but east to west.  There was water and ice on the planet, mountains and volcanoes.  It even had a breathable atmosphere.  The Blade of Marmora’s base was in the center of a mountain.  As they flew farther out, it seemed to disappear, until they flew up to avoid a cliff and the 

Red flew him slowly over the surface.  "Scan for life," Lance said.  "But you know Keith, don’t you, boy?  Just let me know when you find him."

Red flipped his tail.

"Okay, cut the sarcasm," Lance said.  "Yes, I _know_ we’re trying to find one person on a whole planet.  No, I never said you were a miracle worker – geez."  He sighed, pulled his hand through his hair, and tried to think of what he knew about Keith.

"Red, do you think you’re faster than a Galra cruiser?"

Lance’s lion snorted.  "Yeah, of course you are," he said affectionately, patting the dash.  "Those things can’t even touch you.  Okay, then he couldn’t have gone far.  Where would Keith want to be right now?"

He surveyed the landscape.  Everywhere around the Galra base seemed miserable to him.  Rocky, barren, and empty, it looked like a gray Grand Canyon, and the clouds didn’t help the mood.  Lance flew low over the earth, following the path of the ravine from above.  The only life on the ground was a tangled runner, a hardy plant with a lot of range whose roots never spread too deep.

Inside the ravine, stalagmites as thick as Red was long led the way into an underground tunnel.  The columns were tightly packed, blocking one another; flying through it would be difficult in any ship less adaptable than a lion.  There were a few locations farther up where the tunnel had caved in.  It seemed to twist and branch, opening up into a few different places.

"Okay," Lance thought out loud, "this place is so quiet it’s pretty much deserted, that canyon will probably block a ship’s signal, and getting inside in a Galra cruiser would be so difficult it’s basically a suicide run."

Red roared.

"Yeah," Lance said, pulling them forward.  "I think so too."

They flew low overtop of the tunnel, still scanning for life.  It would work through rock, but only if the scanner was right on top of the person.  Lance raced over the surface, following the holes in the ground where the tunnel had collapsed as a general guide.

A blip appeared on the screen, just for a moment, before it went dark again.

"Keith!" Lance's shout was as frantic as his hands as he leaned hard into the throttle, plunging Red through the nearest hole.  The blip on the screen turned into a regular beep, with Keith's location pinpointed somewhere vaguely in front of him.

The lights were low under the tunnel, before Red automatically shone his own red light over the scene with his eyes.  Lance pulled up a split second before the lion crashed into a pillar.

"Sorry, bud," Lance said, more careful now, "But we can't lose him."  He took the lion back to high speed, trying to gain on Keith, his ears tuned to the beeping of the vitals sensor and its rising and falling pace.

The stalagmites rose from the base of the floor to the ceiling, thick enough and in such a large number that Lance didn't have any more than forty yards of visibility at any given time.  But Keith was there.  He pushed Red as hard as he could, dodging and diving with him, their minds in tune as they pursued their friend.  They flew on instinct, as a unit, searching after Keith.

The rhythm of the sensor was speeding up, turning from a beat per second to an insistent ring like the sound of an alarm clock, but less annoying.  Before Keith was in his sights, though, the beeps started to slow down again.

"No, no, no," Lance whispered, leaning forward as though that would bring Keith closer to him.  He must have heard the lion coming and sped up.  "Okay, Red," Lance murmured to his lion, "we have to do this.  I believe in you.  Come on, just a little faster–"

Red roared and turned his thrusters higher, until they were weaving in and out of stalagmites with what felt like hairpin turns.  Lance felt as though he couldn't even blink, didn't even want to, and his arm was leaning so far into the throttle that he was barely sitting down anymore.  He just wanted to catch a _glimpse_ of Keith, just to know that he really was there–

He saw him, but it was too late.

They were on his tail.  The vitals sensor sounded like a Geiger counter in Chernobyl, and Lance and Red were traveling like riding a wave.  The red light from the lion's eyes caught just at the edge of a stray Galra cruiser.  He was in his sights.  He could see Keith.

Keith veered left and put on a burst of speed at once, trying to get away–

Lance saw the crash, but his mind wasn't convinced until he heard the sound.  Frozen, he saw the cruiser explode in a ball of light and fire, the pieces launched in every direction, and Keith–

Red roared in Lance's ear, insistent, afraid, and Lance snapped out of his shock.  He put on a burst of speed from God knew where and sent Red into a dive, catching Keith in his mouth just before he careened to the floor.

"Did you get him?" Lance shouted to Red, frantic, unable to consider what he'd do if Red hadn't.  But when he slowed the lion down and looked over his shoulder, there was Keith, lying in the center of the cargo hold.

He was unconscious, but he looked asleep, his lips pursed and his hair flung across his face.  His eyes were gentle, relaxed.

Lance had seen Keith's face like this before, after long nights in the Castle when no one had had the energy to go all the way to their rooms, and instead they piled up in the central base and fell asleep on top of one another.  Hunk's snoring usually woke everyone up, though, and he and Keith would retreat a few hours later, mumbling incoherently as they practically carried one another back to their rooms.  Once, Lance had fallen asleep at the foot of Keith's bed, too exhausted to make the trek all the way across the hall.  He'd jumped when he woke up to Keith staring at him, and once he came to, he'd run out of the room and slammed the door.  Neither of them spoke of it again, but the memory was burned into Lance's memory – Keith's mussed morning hair, his bleary eyes, his unguarded expression.  It was the thought that kept him up at night, the thought that kept him dreaming.

"Okay, Red," Lance murmured.  Their departure from the tunnel was slower than their entrance, less urgent.  After a moment, Lance patted the controls and asked aloud, "You can take it from here, right?"

Red yawned in response, casually taking over to fly them out.  He seemed to be nudging Lance toward Keith.  _Go to him,_ the lion seemed to say.  The lion seemed almost as concerned about Keith as Lance was, but as he took over flying them out, it was almost like he was giving them space.  Even though they were kind of inside him, and he was still totally watching the whole thing.

"Thanks, buddy," Lance said.  He got up, holding on to the walls as he headed back toward Keith.  His eyes were beginning to flutter open.  He groaned.

"Lance…" he murmured as he woke up.

"Hey, Keith.  I'm here," Lance said, kneeling beside him.  "Are you okay?"

Keith groaned, holding his hand to his forehead.  He tried to sit up, and Lance put his hand on Keith's back to support him.  "Yeah, I'm fine, I guess…what happened?"

"Where do you want me to start?" Lance chuckled.  "You ran away from the Blades' base in one of their cruisers, then crashed it into a wall trying to run away from me, while I was just trying to get you back to safety, by the way."

"Oh…yeah," Keith said.  He rubbed his forehead, where a red mark threatened to form into a welt.  "That…does sound a little familiar."

"Let's just get out of this tunnel, alright?  Then we can talk."

"Sounds good," Keith agreed.  He leaned against the wall with a sigh, and let Red take them both to safety.


	3. Harmony

Red landed them on the edge of a cliff near the tunnel's opening.  The planet's sun was still out for a little longer, but it was nearing sunset.

"So you say if I don't get back by tomorrow night, I'm kicked out of the Blades?" Keith said, for maybe the tenth time.

"Yes, Keith, that is what I said.  Did that explosion damage your short-term memory or something?"

"I can't believe it," Keith whispered, also not for the first time.

"Well, believe it," Lance said.  He stood up and stretched, like he usually did after sitting down in the lions for a while.  "Man, I need some fresh air.  This planet has a breathable atmosphere, right?"

"Huh?  Yeah, it's a little thin, but it's not toxic," Keith said absently.  "You're sure Kolivan agreed?"

Lance turned around and looked Keith in the eye.  "Keith," he began, but, seeing the look in his friend's eyes, he was unable to finish.  He looked away, and out of the corner of his eye noticed the scene outside the lion.  The gray stones looked like painted charcoal, like a sketch of a setting that could have been seen on earth, while the sun's red light painted a shining ruby glaze over the stone.

"Gosh, that's beautiful," he whispered.  Keith stood up and walked over to him, stopping just beside Lance.

"You're right," he agreed.  "It is beautiful."

After a moment, Lance clapped him on the shoulder.  "Let's go outside," he said.  "We should talk."

Lance felt Red rolling his eyes.  _Talk.  Su-u-ure._

"Shut up," Lance said under his breath.

"Huh?  What was that?" Keith asked, genuinely seeming not to have heard.  Small mercies.

"Oh, just talking to my lion," Lance muttered.

Keith grinned.  "Yeah, Red is pretty annoying," he said as they took the ramp down.  He patted the lion's leg, a hint of wistfulness in his affection.  "You can't tell him anything."

Red roared, apparently taking offense, before resting his head on his paws and going to sleep.

Keith and Lance sat on the ledge, just barely fitting on it without their toes going over, and leaned against the smooth rock wall behind them.  There was silence for a moment, before Lance sighed.

"Keith, Kolivan wasn't the one to suggest dismissing you.  The annoying whiny guy did, I don't know his name."

"Klatnar," Keith muttered.  "Hate that guy."

"Same here.  But my point is that Kolivan didn't argue because he knows you've done this sort of thing before.  The team needs to be able to rely on you.  I know you can take pressure.  I think you know that, too.  But being able to show them that you can is important."

"What am I supposed to do, huh?" Keith asked, throwing his hands in the air.  His hair was falling in his face and he didn't bother to move it.  Lance was tempted to reach up and do it for him, but he held himself back, instead letting Keith express his frustration on his own.  "I'm not built to be a leader, Lance.  We all know it.  You saw how much I messed up leading Voltron.  I'm not about to do the same thing to the Blades and ruin another chance."  He sighed, and his face fell, the rage spent.  "Maybe I should just step down.  I don't belong in the Blades or as a paladin of Voltron."

"Keith, you know that's not true," Lance insisted.  His back was off the wall, and instead he leaned forward on one arm, so that he could see Keith's face in more than profile.  "You were good at leading Voltron.  We all thought so.  Sure, it didn't start perfectly.  Shiro had his share of issues as the black paladin, too.  Everyone struggles sometimes and everyone feels out of place.  Hell, I don't even know if I should be a paladin at all, but – "

"No way, Lance," Keith argued.  "You're a great paladin.  Red loves you.  He and I never got along as well as you two do.  You're perfect for the role."

Lance gave half a chuckle, pulling his hand through his hair awkwardly.  "I wouldn't say perfect," he amended, but before Keith could start to defend him, he turned the attention back to him.  "But I don't need to be to be a good paladin.  I do what I do because it's my responsibility.  This is the way I can help free the galaxy from Zarkon.  And you can do so much with the Blades of Marmora, Keith!  Turning them down just because you're afraid of what could happen would just be crazy."

"But I _am_ afraid."  Keith's eyes fell, and he pulled his arms in closer to him, almost like he was cold.  Crossed in front of his chest, they felt like a wall, a barrier.  Lance put his hand on Keith's wrist and pulled it toward him.  Keith didn't resist, but stared at Lance, surprise in his face.

"It's okay to be afraid," he insisted.  "There are things…there are things I'm afraid of, too.  But I still try to do my best every day, no matter what.  You did the same when you were leading Voltron.  I know you can do even more here.  They need you, Keith."

Keith scoffed, and started to look away.  "They don't need me."

"They do.  I promise you, they do," Lance said.  He tightened his grip on Keith's arm, not letting him shield himself again.  Keith turned, startled, but Lance wasn't going to let him look away again.

"Keith," Lance whispered.  The words seemed to escape from him without his willing them to, no shield, no filter, no barriers.  "There's no one in the Blades of Marmora who's quite like you."  His hand slid from Keith's wrist into Keith's hand, and they seemed to fit together as though they'd been designed to be one.

"There's no one among them who thinks on their feet like you.  No one who flies like you, no one who can take a hit like you, no one who's as inspiring as you.  There's no one…no one who cares as much for their teammates as you.  You're different, Keith, you're like nothing…like nothing I…"

He wanted to say so much more.  He was holding himself back.  Always, around Keith, holding himself back.  Lance was choking himself up, fighting the words that were desperate to come out, and there was Keith, nearer to him than he ever had been but so far away.  Lance didn't want him to leave.  But Keith had to know, he had to be everything he could be.

"Lance…" Keith whispered.  His eyes were so piercing, so convicted, but Lance was sure he didn't know, could never know, just how excellent he was.

"Keith," Lance answered, and he was there for him.  Couldn't Keith see that Lance would always be there for him?

Keith hesitated.  His eyes never left Lance's face, tracing out the lines of his mouth, eyes, and jaw, but his left hand wrapped around Lance's own.

"Keith…what are you doing?" Lance asked, even as he squeezed Keith's hand tighter.

Keith looked him in the eyes and leaned forward.  "It's okay to be afraid," he whispered.

Lance couldn't stop himself, and in an instant their faces met.

Lance held on to Keith's hand like a lifeline, but raised the other to his cheek, pulling him in further.  Underneath rough gloves he could only just trace the shape of his jaw, only brush his fingertips over his neck, but it was enough to pull him closer, to wrap his arm around Keith and draw him in.  He was crying.  The stains from his tears spread from his face to Keith's own like a promise, like a seal.

Keith's grip was even tighter, and he wrapped his other arm around Lance's waist, pressed gently at his stomach, laid his hand against Lance's chest.  He shifted, trying to reach more and more of Lance's body, their faces never pulling apart.  He was crying, and his tears were full of so much regret.  Lance pulled him tighter.

They broke apart, holding their foreheads together, and looked into each other's eyes, both crying, both grinning like fools, and both leaning in to kiss again at the same instant.  They held themselves on that ledge as the sun went down, and when the wind chill began to sweep through the canyon they between Red and the wall, lying beside one another in a space that was just an inch too small.

"What does this mean?" Keith asked, in the middle of the night.

"It means we're a team," Lance answered, kissing him again.  God, he couldn't get enough of that boy.  "You and me.  We're always going to be a team."

Keith smiled at him, and Lance squeezed his hand tight.  There was pain in Keith's eyes, and he wasn't going to have that.  Not tonight.

They kissed again, and against both of their wishes fell asleep, for once together, and perfectly in harmony.


	4. Love

The trip back to the base in the morning was…strange.  Good strange.

Lance piloted the lion while Keith stood behind him.

"This is kind of like the first time you flew Blue," Keith mentioned.  "Remember?  When we were all standing behind you?"

"Yeah," Lance scoffed.  "How could I forget all of you guys backseat flying?  Especially you.  You were the worst."

Keith smirked.  "I thought you said there was no one quite like me."

"Yeah," Lance answered, snorting, "no one quite as _annoying_."

Keith laughed, then leaned down and kissed Lance on the mouth.

"Hey," Lance said, just before Keith pulled him in.  "I can't see the – hey…"

He melted under Keith's touch, and Keith leaned back with a satisfied glint in his eye.

"You're the worst," Lance muttered, shoving him away and trying to focus back on the horizon.  He'd sort of not really been flying at all.  Red was definitely doing most of the work, but he'd also spent the entire flight teasing Lance incessantly.  It was pure torture, especially after Keith joined in.

"Yeah," Keith agreed.  This time his smile was genuine.  "You're the best, though."

Lance looked up, drinking in what would be one of his last memories of Keith for a while.

Kolivan and the female Galra lead were gracious about Keith's unexplained absence, and about the missing cruiser.  The male lead was less so, but fortunately, he was overruled.  Plus, the meeting about promoting Keith was done with masks off, and he looked a lot less intimidating with six tentacle ears in a ring above his mouth.  It was like a mustache that could hear.

"Still," the woman said, leaning forward, "I trust that we will have no further incidents of this nature."

"No, ma'am," Keith said.  He spoke formally, and stood like a soldier.  If they'd been out of view of Keith's new bosses, he probably would have pretended to fan himself, but instead he stayed way out of it.  "I'm prepared to serve the Blade of Marmora in leadership to the utmost of my ability."

Kolivan didn't quite smile at him, but his expression implied that he might be thinking about it.  "Then we welcome you as a new team leader, Keith Kogane of Earth."

Keith wouldn't be officially named for a few more days, but after the Blade accepted him, the meeting was pretty much over.  He walked Lance back to his lion.

"Man, I can't believe I'm never going to get to see this place again," Lance said, trying and failing to keep the real reason for his sadness out of his voice.

"I won't be far," Keith promised him.  "We haven't kept in touch enough while I've been away.  That was my fault.  I promise, you'll see more of me."

"Not too much, though."  He looked over Keith's repaired Blade uniform and smiled.  "You're going to be off saving the world as a Blade leader."

"Yeah.  It's a big change."  Keith was one for understatements.

They stood beside Lance's lion, neither really speaking.

"So," Lance said.

"So."

Next to them, Red roared, clearly tired of the machismo.  Rolling his eyes, Lance grabbed Keith, dipped him like a Broadway star, and kissed him, hard.  He looked back at his lion.  "Happy now?" he shouted.

Red wasn't the only one.  The starstruck look in Keith's eyes brought out the light in his face.  Lance spun him, this time, so that he almost lost his balance, and kissed him again.

"Okay, okay," Keith said, taking a step back.  "I didn't sign up for a dance partner."

"No, you signed up for me," Lance answered him, pulling him in close.  "And this is what you're going to get."

 

A floor above, beyond where either of them could see, stood two Galra, their arms folded.

"I told you, Evira."  The Galra on the left shook his head.  "Pay up."

The second sighed, and transferred him the agreed upon sum.  "You were right, Kolivan.  And I was so sure they were just friends."

"I guess you just don't understand what love looks like," the first Galra teased.

The woman stared forward, and the boy with the dark hair who so closely resembled someone she used to know.

"Love," she mused, "comes in many forms."


End file.
